A Biosphere Reserve in a valley in Southern Mexico is charged with the conservation of one of the world’s most unique centers of floristic diversity. Its near half million hectares are under the management of an interdisciplinary team of approximately 15 fulltime employees working to educate and improve the lives of the local communities within a context of maintaining its biological assets. Currently there are no comprehensive, up-to-date resources on the flora of this area for Reserve staff to employ in day to day activities and even less information accessible to local communities. It is the goal of this project to supply such resources in an accurate, non-technical manner, to create community conservation awareness, and to encourage collaboration between the researchers generating data from this region and Reserve management.

Note: This summary was provided by a Peace Corps Volunteer and the community administering this project.